Pros
- First-year rewards doubled
- No annual fee
- No foreign-transaction fee
- Intro APR on purchases
Cons
- High regular APR
- No initial bonus
Discover it® Student Cash Back
Transfer Fee: 3% intro balance transfer fee, up to 5% fee on future balance transfers (see terms)*
- Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like Amazon.com, grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases – automatically.
Rewards Details
- INTRO OFFER: Unlimited Cashback Match – only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! So you could turn $50 cash back into $100. Or turn $100 into $200. There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a dollar-for-dollar match.
- Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like Amazon.com, grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases – automatically.
Additional Info
- No credit score required to apply.
- Discover could help you reduce exposure of your personal information online by helping you remove it from select people-search sites that could sell your data. It’s free, activate with the mobile app.
- No annual fee and build your credit with responsible use.
- 0% intro APR on purchases for 6 months, then the standard variable purchase APR of 18.24% - 27.24% applies.
- Click through to Discover’s website to see terms and conditions.
- More Details & Reviews About Discover it® Student Cash Back
Is Discover it Student Cash Back Worth It?
Discover it® Student Cash Back is worth it for college students who want to build credit while earning some seriously good rewards. The card offers 1 - 5% cash back on purchases, depending on the category, and Discover will double your rewards earnings from the first year, as a first-anniversary bonus. To top it all off, the card has a $0 annual fee.
What You Need to Do to Make Discover it Student Cash Back Worthwhile
In order to make Discover it Student Cash Back worthwhile, you should always pay your monthly bill in full by the due date when the regular APR is in effect. This will prevent expensive interest charges from chipping away at the savings you get from the card’s rewards. In addition, you should try to use the card as much as possible during the first year – without overspending, of course – because Discover will match the cash back that you earn. It’s a fantastic bonus with no maximum.
Discover it® Student Cash Back Highlights
Big-Time Bonuses
The Discover it Student Cash Back card offers 5% back (up to a quarterly maximum) in rotating bonus categories that require activation each quarter. Discover it Student Chrome gives you 2% on your first $1,000 in gas and restaurant spending each quarter.
Those are pretty good deals in their own right, but they’re made infinitely more attractive by Discover’s offer to double your total first-year earnings. According to WalletHub calculations, this generous feature could be worth an extra $300 for Discover it Student Cash Back cardholders and $80 for Discover it Student Chrome users, based on their $500 minimum credit lines.
$0 Annual Fee
Given that good, or even excellent, credit can be achieved for free by sustaining good financial behavior over time, there’s little reason to pay an annual fee if you can avoid it. This is especially true for people with limited credit, such as students, because a fee typically doesn’t give you too much additional value (e.g., better rewards or financing terms). Put differently, the cards will save you about $21.5, which is the average annual fee for current offers on the market, according to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report.
Market-Average Base Earning Rate
The average cash back credit card — across the whole market, including offers for people with good and average credit — yields roughly 1.14% of the amount spent. The cards offer 1% as their base earning rate, applicable to all purchases that don’t fit into quarterly bonus categories. That’s not too bad for a college student. But since most student cards offer similar rates, what really matters is how well the bonus categories complement your spending habits.
0% Intro APR On Purchases For The First 6 Months
College (and post-college) life can be quite expensive. So if you have any upcoming big-ticket expenses (e.g., a new laptop) that will take you a few months to pay off, this 0% intro rate could certainly come in handy. Just make sure to use a credit card calculator to avoid carrying a balance past the end of the promotional period and having to pay the card’s regular APR: 18.24% - 27.24% Variable. In addition, always pay at least the minimum amount by the due date to avoid late fees (Discover will forgive only your first late payment).
Unrestricted Rewards Redemption
You can redeem it card earnings whenever you’d like, with no minimum threshold amount required, and your earnings will never expire as long as your account is open and in good standing (i.e. no late payments, no fraudulent activity, etc.). This enables you to benefit whenever the mood strikes you, in sharp contrast to many other rewards credit cards that require, for instance, $25 in earned cash back before you can redeem.
Discover it® Student Cash Back Lowlights
High Regular APR
Your interest rate, or APR, is 18.24% - 27.24% Variable. For context, the market average APR for students is 19.54%, according to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report.
Relatively Few Merchants Accept Discover
Discover is one of four major credit-card networks. It is more widely accepted than American Express, but less so than Visa and Mastercard. So you should always have a backup payment method just in case. That or you could always check if your favorite stores accept Discover beforehand, but that would mean more homework for you.
Other Things To Consider About The Discover it® Student Cash Back Card
Rewards Never Expire
Many credit cards steal your unredeemed rewards if you don’t use your account for a certain period of time, and most apply a use-it-or-lose-it approach to account closing. But Discover it® Student Cash Back is a bit different. If you close your account or don’t use it for 18 consecutive months, your unredeemed rewards balance will be credited to you, either applying to an outstanding balance or being mailed in the form of a check.
No Foreign-Transaction Fee
The affinity of college students for international travel is cliché for a reason. And if you decide to live the stereotype on a spring break excursion or post-grad backpacking trip, you won’t get hit with a surcharge for foreign use. In fact, none of Discover’s credit cards have foreign-transaction fees. Just for your edification, the average foreign-transaction fee is currently 1.54%.
Initial Balance-Transfer Promo
If you open one of the cards and transfer a balance, the amount transferred will accrue interest at “only” a 10.99% rate for the first six months. It’s not the 0% intro rate that some other cards offer, but it is lower than the cards’ 18.24% - 27.24% Variable regular interest rate.
This deal also is accompanied by a 3% intro transfer fee (5% after), which is important to factor in to your calculations. For example, if you transfer a $500 balance from another credit card, you would pay a $15 transfer fee in addition to the interest it would accrue for each day that you don’t pay off the remaining balance.
User-Friendly Features
Neither it card has a penalty APR, a late fee for your first offense or an overlimit fee (assuming you opt in for the ability to spend above your limit — not recommended). Furthermore, if your card is ever lost or stolen, you can get a free overnight replacement. None of these features are exclusive to these two cards, and many might never actually come into play, but they’re nice nevertheless.
Discover it Student Cash Back vs. the Competition
Most major lenders are active in the student credit-card space, and competition is high for youthful applicants with years of above-average earning potential and financial needs ahead of them. In order to help you make the best choice for your wallet, we compared both student credit cards to some of the most popular alternatives in terms of six fundamentally important categories. You can check out the results below.
| Info | Discover it® Student Cash Back | Discover it® Student Chrome | Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card | Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card for Students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Bonus Offer | N/A | N/A | $50 | $200 |
| Rewards Rate | 1 - 5% Cash Back | 1 - 2% Cash Back | 1 - 8% Cash Back | 1 - 3% Cash Back |
| Purchase Intro APR | 0% for 6 months | 0% for 6 months | N/A | 0% for 15 billing cycles |
| Transfer Intro APR | 10.99% for 6 months Transfer Fee: 3% intro balance transfer fee, up to 5% fee on future balance transfers (see terms)* | 10.99% for 6 months Transfer Fee: 3% intro balance transfer fee, up to 5% fee on future balance transfers (see terms)* | N/A | 0% for 15 billing cycles for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days Transfer Fee: 3% |
| Regular APR | 18.24% - 27.24% Variable | 18.24% - 27.24% Variable | 19.99% - 29.99% (V) | 18.24% - 28.24% Variable |
| Editors' Rating | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 3 |
| Details, Rates & Fees | Learn More Rates & Fees | Learn More Rates & Fees | Learn More Rates & Fees | Learn More |
Discover it® Student Cash Back Review Methodology
This Discover it® Student Cash Back review is based on WalletHub’s proprietary 100-point credit card rating system. By using a consistent methodology to evaluate the Discover it® Student Cash Back and all other cards, WalletHub’s credit card experts make it easy for people to compare their options and find the best credit cards for their needs.
The WalletHub rating system uses 16 key metrics grouped into seven categories: Fees, Rewards, Two-year Cost, Interest Rates, Approval Requirements, Special Features, and Reviews. Each metric has a maximum number of points allocated to it, based on the metric’s importance as determined by our editors. The points are added up to create an overall rating for the Discover it® Student Cash Back out of a maximum of 100 points, which is then converted to a 5-point scale.
Ratings for each category reflect how close Discover it Student Cash Back is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star credit card, which is based on market conditions and what we believe are reasonable terms. We compare Discover it Student Cash Back to that standard to give a numerical approximation of how reasonable and competitive its terms are compared to other cards.
To learn more about how WalletHub rates credit card offers, check out our full credit card review methodology.
